BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Sun Zhengcai, former secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), has been charged with bribery, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said Tuesday.
The indictment paper has been delivered to the First Intermediate People's Court of Tianjin by the first branch of the Tianjin People's Procuratorate.
Sun is also a former member of the Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee.
The SPP transferred Sun's case to the first branch of Tianjin People's Procuratorate after completing the investigation according to law.
Sun is accused of taking advantage of his posts to seek profits for others and illegally accepted huge amounts of money and property while serving as CPC chief of Shunyi District, Beijing, Standing Committee member and secretary general of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, agriculture minister, secretary of the CPC Jilin Provincial Committee, Political Bureau member of the CPC Central Committee, and Party chief of Chongqing Municipality, according to the indictment.
The prosecutors have informed Sun of his litigation rights, interrogated him, and listened to his lawyer's opinions, the SPP said.
In July 2017, the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) announced that Sun was under investigation. He was expelled from the Party and dismissed from public office by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee last September. In October 2017, Sun was expelled from the CPC, and disqualified as a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC) a month later.
A high profile anti-corruption campaign which began five years ago, has led to the downfall of a number of high-level officials. The CPC is committed to securing "a sweeping victory" against corruption.
Since the 19th CPC National Congress, several officials at or above deputy ministerial level and senior military officials have been investigated or punished, including former Chinese military chief of staff Fang Fenghui, and Lu Wei, former deputy head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, as well as vice governors of Shaanxi, Shandong and Jiangxi provinces.
Lower level officials have not avoided punishment. In January, the CCDI named a number of grassroots officials implicated in abuses of poverty relief funds, involving bribe-taking, embezzlement and fraudulently obtaining subsistence allowances.
Last year, nearly 450 people were investigated and punished for fraudulent claims or misappropriation of funds and 730 million yuan of misused funds recouped, according to the Ministry of Finance and the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development.
The leaders of supervision commissions in 31 Chinese provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps have been elected, to ensure that "all public servants exercising public power" are subject to supervision.
A national supervision commission will be established at the first session of the 13th NPC, scheduled to open on March 5.
